Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to those of the other speakers who have said to the Sinn Féin leadership that it should consider doing the unthinkable. This is not an ordinary time. Nothing would reflect this fact better than their presence at Westminster to defend the Good Friday Agreement. Deputy Gerry Adams is absolutely right - we all have an obligation to do this. What a message would be sent if Sinn Féin Members did attend the Parliament at Westminster to act in that way? We would very much commend them for and support them in doing so. There would be no one slagging them for giving up their electorate if they were to do so as these are unusual times.

Will the Taoiseach also stand up for the Good Friday Agreement by supporting the other legal case taken by Mr. Stephen Agnew, the leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, with Assembly Members from Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party and the SDLP, as well as others, which was heard in the High Court in Belfast? I hope I am not infringing Judicial propriety, but there was a very conservative judgment which I argue, if reinforced in the Supreme Court where the case is due to be heard in early December, would seriously infringe on the rights of Irish nationalism.

Will the Taoiseach, similar to the Scots and Welsh administrations, take a direct interest in that case, recognising that we do have a direct constitutional interest in the Brexit process, particularly in defending the rights set out in the Good Friday Agreement? I have a real fear that this case, if it is not argued sufficiently or won, could lead to a diminution of the Good Friday Agreement without us having any say on it. Will the Taoiseach seek legal representation for the Government in it?

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